Cat Philosophy

“When I play with my cat, who knows whether she is not amusing herself with me more than I with her.”

Montaigne said that. And the quote surfaces in a discussion on Radio 4 this morning during Start the Week, which is usually entertaining, but which this week is celestial, possibly because it includes Sarah Bakewell, who has written a book amusingly titled "How To Live – A Life of Montaigne in one question and twenty attempts at an answer", and Will Self, novelist and provocateur, discussing the discursive and non-dogmatic french essayist.

I can remember making fun of Montaigne, as a very callow and drunken 19-year-old, in a conversation with a teacher. I called Montaigne 'the old fool-osopher' and said that he was a contentless purveyor of feel-good cliche.

Not for the first time or the last, I was told that I was an obnoxious and pompous moron.